Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2024 August 14
A night sky filled with stars is coloured partly purple
by an aurora. Also visible are several streaks which are
meteors in this image composite. In the foreground is 
a field and lone tree. Part of the tree slants at the
nearly the same angle of the meteor streaks. 
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Meteors and Aurora over Germany
Image Credit & Copyright: Chantal Anders

Explanation: This was an unusual night. For one thing, the night sky of August 11 and 12, earlier this week, occurred near the peak of the annual Perseid Meteor Shower. Therefore, meteors streaked across the dark night as small bits cast off from Comet Swift-Tuttle came crashing into the Earth's atmosphere. Even more unusually, for central Germany at least, the night sky glowed purple. The red-blue hue was due to aurora caused by an explosion of particles from the Sun a few days before. This auroral storm was so intense that it was seen as far south as Texas and Italy, in Earth's northern hemisphere. The featured image composite was built from 7 exposures taken over 26 minutes from Ense, Germany. The Perseids occur predictably every August, but aurorae visible this far south are more unusual and less predictable.

Gallery: Perseid Meteor Shower 2024 and Aurorae
Tomorrow's picture: The Ides of August


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